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Sunday, 17 July 2016

Lily sighed heavily. "This really is the hind end of
nowhere, isn't it?"

The companions continued their journey to the northeast,
their horses plodding along at a steady pace. They were traveling a dirt road,
which ran under a canopy of trees. The weather was good, mostly sunny, though
it was beginning to grow colder. It had been three days since they left Paco
and his salt mine. The village Paco had pointed them too hadn't been much, but
they had been informed there of a larger town further along the road and the friends
were headed for it.

Erlik shrugged. "Depends; There are villages and
hamlets about, even some towns. You've seen the map."

"Perhaps, but they're not New Harbor, are they?"
Lily asked longingly.

"Missing the 'big city,' are you?" queried Erlik.

It was the rogue's turn to shrug. "I miss the hustle and
bustle. I'd go crazy living in a village like that last one."

"Not much choice in brews, that's for sure,"
agreed Samuel. "It's really bad when you consider that drinking is
the only thing to do in some of these places."

"Well, except for further research in its libraries,
New Harbor was played out, for me anyway," said Erlik. "That's why I
felt the need to travel." He waved his hand, indicating the country before
them. "Out there is all that remains of the once great Valardeem Empire.
Many of its cities are covered over now, buried and forgotten, but there are
still riches and ancient knowledge to be found . . . by those willing to
look."

Samuel nodded. "So you said, why do you think I'm
here."

"Aye!" agreed the dwarf. "Twern't fer ya gud
looks tha' I cum 'long."

Lily laughed. "Thank Dalt for small kindnesses."
She looked at the wizard. "Still, I expected, well . . . more." She
pointed ahead. "If there was once a great empire out here . . . where is
it?" She shrugged in perplexity.

"The Frozen Steppes now cover much of it," Erlik
informed her. "The Great Forest covers still more. Any ruins we find out on
the steppes, are likely to be remnants of the old empire and will be worth
exploring. We may even find a few such as we traverse the forest."

"Still, you think they'd be some more obvious signs of
this empire," Samuel interjected, ignoring Huthgar's plight. "Especially if it was as big as you
say."

"Nature reclaims the land must faster than you might
think," Erlik informed the fighter. "And it's been centuries since
the Valardeem Empire fell."

"So, what happened to it?" the fighter pressed.

"The same thing that happens to every human kingdom;
war, famine, pestilence, the weather," Erlik replied.

"The weather?" Samuel asked, incredulous. "You mean rain . . . snow?"

"Certainly," Erlik shrugged. "You don't think
the Frozen Steppes were always frozen, do you? Who would attempt to build an
empire in such a land? The weather patterns changed; the climate grew colder
and inhospitable. People live where they can obtain food. When the weather
changed in these lands, food production dropped and people were forced to leave
the area . . . or starve."

"That's where the 'famine' part comes in,"
observed Lily.

Erlik nodded. "Yes."

"So, where did they go?" Samuel asked.

"South, to warmer climes, naturally," answered
Erlik. "Where do you think Bethmoora and the other southern cities come from?"

"Bethmoora be par' o' dis empire ya speak of?"
asked Huthgar.

The wizard shrugged. "Can't rightly say, but
Bethmoora's been around for some seven hundred years, maybe longer. I'm sure
that much of its early population stems from the empire's people fleeing
south."

"I imagine you'll be exploring the libraries of
Bethmoora for information," Lily said.

Erlik looked at her. "Perhaps, though I have no
particular intention of being obvious about it."

"What's the secret?" asked Samuel.

"Secret? There's no secret," Erlik told him.
"But about one hundred years ago a battle took place in the city between
powerful factions of mages vying for control of the place. The city suffered
considerable damage and many people lost their lives. These days, magic users are
carefully watched and mistrusted. Needless to say, I don't plan on announcing
my presence."

"Whoa!" Samuel threw up his hand as he halted his
horse. "Hold up. There's a trail leading off into the forest here."
He pointed. Turning in his saddle to look at Erlik, he asked. "Shall we
take a look?"

"Does the trail look used?" the wizard asked.

"Nope," came the reply. "It looks like it's
not been used in many a year . . . but it's there, nonetheless."

Erlik movedhis
horse forward. "It's unlikely to be something from the old empire; the
forest would have reclaimed it long ago." He shrugged again. "Still,
it might be worth investigating."

"Den wha ar' we waitin' fer?" asked Huthgar.
"Les 'vestigate."

Erlik looked from the dwarf to the fighter, then nodded.
"By all means, let's investigate."

Samuel lead the way through the trees and onto the pathway.

"I hope there's something worthwhile in there,"
said Lily. "It would be nice if this started turning into a more
profitable venture." She urged her horse forward, following the others
unto the unused path.

The trail meandered through the forest for a couple of
miles, then abruptly ended . . . at a cliff. Samuel dismounted and the others
followed suit. The fighter studied the ground along the edge of the cliff and
pointed.

Down below the companions could see a lake with what
appeared to be two docks on opposite sides. Some kind of building appeared to be
built into the cliff on one side, while a trail lead off into a canyon on the
other.

"There seems to have been a trail leading down from
here . . . once upon a time," Samuel informed his friends. "But it's
long gone. Whatever that building is, it seems you can only access it by
boat." He pointed. "That trail leading off; that's the only way to
get to it."

"Well, whatever it is, it isn't ancient and -- judging
from the smoke rising up -- it isn't abandoned," noted Erlik

"Looks like all we can do is go back to the main road
and see if we can find that trail further along," offered Lily.

Friday, 15 July 2016

Recently, I've come into contact with Ms Helen Hollick, the
most recent Reader of my blog. Naturally, I googled her.

It turns out that Ms Hollick is the author of numerous
published novels. Needless to say I was flattered that she should choose to
peruse my humble writings. She has just released the fifth volume of her Pirate
Code series, starring Captain Jesamiah Acorne and his ship, the Sea Witch. It's a mixture of realism fiction with elements of fantasy, as is evidenced by a ghost, a witch and . . . the Nightman.

Having just discovered this, I have yet to read the books
myself, but I did start hunting them up on Amazon and other locations. They
seem to be quite popular and the blurbs are excellent. I'm now determined to
get the books.

I've also added her blog -- Let Us Talk of Many Things -- to
my list of favorites. You can find it over in the right hand column. Please give
her blog a perusal and -- if seventeenth century high seas hi-jinks are your thing --
I suggest you check out her books.

Wednesday, 13 July 2016

My friend, Christian, of Destination Unknown fame, started a
new one page Zine some months back, which I seem to have missed the beginning
of. I need to make up for that and so I'm shamelessly giving him a plug.

Christian also created a new blog called The Tolling of the Great BlackBell, where he post short video vignettes about the zine. He's on a Planescape
kick at the moment, though he also does other things; like Baldur's Gate.

He's also got a mad composer running around the streets of
Seattle at present, loosing demon summoning music upon unsuspecting musicians .
. . bastard. The poor souls are lost forever . . . maybe.

Christian's a good guy with a love for the game, so give his
new blog a quick look, won't you? Thanks guys!

Tuesday, 12 July 2016

First, let me say thank you to everyone who does so, it
really is nice to know that you're paying that much attention to my stories.
However, you should know that I am aware of this point, but . . . I do it for a
reason.

As with this last installment of "The Salt Pit,"
there are, at times, long periods between my posts. I capitalize words like
"Fighter" and "Dwarf" specifically to remind my readers of
the Character Class of each character, as well as their particular race. The length of time between the posting of parts five and six
is also the reason I made sure to include the illustrations of each character
as well. I am aware that, in a few months, this post will be
forgotten and people will begin pointing out this "error" once more.
I really don't mind. I just wanted to get this out there.

"The Salt Pit" is a suggested adventure from my
friend Tim Shorts, of Gothridge Manor, taken from the first issue of his e-zine
"The Manor." Our intrepid heroes will continue their journeys in the
adventure laid out in "The Manor" #2. Hey, credit where credit is due. I started this story for Tim
and his lovely wife, Ivy, who has her own blog; The Happy Whisk. The woman likes to cook, what can I say?

The mention of the city of "Bethmoora" is a nod to
my good friend, Sergeant First Class Matt Jackson -- thanks ever so much for your service Matt! -- whose blog can be found here.
Matt has started his own gaming world called "Ecalpon" and Bethmoora is a major city of that
world. Hope I'm not giving too much away, but again . . . credit where credit is due.

I do have my own world, in
which I write and game, and I also enjoy writing stories for the World of Greyhawk, the world that introduced me to gaming. These stories are
presently posted elsewhere and are being saved on my webpage, found here, for those who are interested. The page is hosted by my friend Denis Tetreault, the creator of the city of Melkot, for the World of Greyhawk. His webpage is "Maldin's Greyhawk," where Denis floats some interesting ideas.

One day, perhaps with the onset of better vision, I'll get
around to finishing my novel. We'll see. I have been suffering from some blurry vision, thanks to my
diabetes, and have been receiving injections into my eyeball, so my reading and
writing have been "hit and miss" lately. I apologize for that.

The blurry is still there, but the eyesight is getting
better, so I'll try and get back to it.

Monday, 11 July 2016

The slimy reptile slammed into Samuel's shield with enough
force to make the warrior take a step back. The creature's javelin stabbed at
the Fighter from over his shield, nearly hitting him in the face.

"Ha! Ya be mon, critter!" shouted Huthgar,
as he took a step forward, intent on hacking the beast in half with his axe.
"Argh!" Huthgar's swing was interrupted by a stabbing pain.
Looking down, he could see another javelin piercing his leg, passing clean
through. He grabbed for it with his left hand.

"I told you there was more than one!" Erlik
cried, stabbing his hand forward. "Nok!" Two blue,
scintillating balls of light streaked towards the second creature, striking it
squarely in the chest. The cast of its second javelin was broken up, as it
grabbed at its torso in pain. "Running out of spells!" The
Wizard shouted, as a reminder.

Lily seemed to recover herself and staggered to her feet.
Drawing one of her daggers, she cast it. "Ha!" The dagger
handle struck the creature and glanced harmlessly away. "Damn!"
The Rogue reached for another.

Samuel tried chopping at the reptile with his sword, but it
was pressing the Fighter too closely for accurate swinging and he opted to stab at
it instead. "My sword is too long for such close in work!" he
grunted.

The lizard-like creature clung to Samuel's shield with one
claw, while stabbing its javelin over the top with the other.

"Umph!" The Cleric grunted as he snapped
off the javelin piercing his leg, then, taking a fresh hold of his axe, he
swung it with all his might into the back of the reptile. "Ahh!"
Huthgar sighed with satisfaction as the blade of his axe sank into the
creature's back, nearly slicing it in two.

"That's not going to happen!" Samuel
shouted. Free of his attacker, he charged down the tunnel in the dim light.

"Wait!" cried Erlik. "Idiot!" he
breathed, as he took up his staff and followed after the Fighter.

"We bes' hobble afta' 'em, lass," Huthgar
suggested.

"Yes, we'd better," Lily replied, offering her
shoulder to the dwarf.

****

The creature was down on one knee, still in obvious pain
from Erlik's attack. Samuel charged headlong and slammed into the smaller
creature with his shield. It fell over backwards, tumbling head over heals upon
the ground. Before it could recover, Samuel plunged his sword into it, pinning
it to the ground. "Die, you damn, filthy beast!"

The beast struggled briefly, squirming upon the blade, then
it hissed and lay still.

Erlik caught up, his lantern swinging wildly from his
sprint, casting light eerily about the cavern. "That was stupid," he
said. "We've no idea how many there are." He moved his lantern about,
peering into the darkness, but all he could see were the walls of the cavern.

"I don't care how many of them there are," snarled
Samuel.

The Wizard nodded in the darkness. "Yes, that's your
problem," he softly replied.

"What do you mean?" The Fighter demanded, swinging
about to face the wizard.

"I mean, it's going to get you killed," Erlik
replied. "I just hope it doesn't get me killed too."

Lily and Huthgar came hobbling up together. "What are
you arguing about now?" the Rogue asked.

"The same thing we always argue about," Erlik
replied, jerking his thumb at Samuel. "His recklessness."

"He's not wrong," Lily replied. "That
'berserker' thing you do is going to get you in trouble . . . one of
these days."

"Let it go, lad," Huthgar said, looking at Samuel.
"Tha' no be Fighters. Tha' no understand."

Samuel opened his mouth to reply, then shut it and shrugged.
"Whatever."

"Lily, let's shine some light around this place and
make sure there aren't any other surprises, shall we?" suggested Erlik.

"Right." Recovering her breath now, the Rogue
moved about the cavern looking for any breaches in the walls. "Looks like
a dead end," she reported.

Erlik nodded agreement. "Yes, it does." He looked
at the others. "Paco will need to close off that other tunnel. The water's
leaking in here from somewhere and each of the creatures we've encountered can
easily use that access point to regain entry into the mine."

"Well, best get back up top and tell him then,"
said Samuel.

"Ack!" Huthgar grunted.

"What now?" asked Lily casting her gaze about the darkness.

"I told ya we'd be needin' to clumb back up tha'
damn ladder!" the cleric cursed.

"Don't forget to gather up your
daggers," Erlik reminded the Rogue.

****

Once up top, the companions informed Paco of the situation.

"So you'd best close that tunnel off," Erlik
advised. "Otherwise, you're going to have more trouble."

"Then it is safe?" Paco asked. "I can return
to working in the mine?"

"As safe as it ever was," nodded Samuel.

"Long as ya close off da utter tunnel," added
Huthgar.

Paco threw up his arms and smiled. "Ah! I thank
you, my friends! Thank you!" He waved them towards the cottage.
"Come! You eat and spend the night, yes? Tomorrow you can continue on your
way with your salt! Come! My wife, she prepared a ham for you! A large
ham!"

Samuel and Huthgar started for the cabin, smiling and laughing; Huthgar limping upon his wounded leg.

"A large ham is all the reward those two require,"
Lily whispered to Erlik.

The Wizard chuckled and nodded in agreement.

The Rogue slipped her arm into the Wizard's. "So, any idea what you're going to do with your share of the salt?"

"I think we'd better decide where we're going to sell it, first," Erlik replied. "It just seems to work better if you turn the salt into silver . . . before trying to spend it. The market around here isn't going to be as good as someplace without a salt mine."

Lily nodded. "Any ideas?"

"I'm thinking we might wait until we reach Bethmoora," Erlik replied.

Lily
nodded. "Yes, always thinking." She looked at the Wizard. "That's
why I keep you around."

Erlik
turned his head abruptly and looked at the woman. Seeing the twinkle in her eye, he chuckled again.